Speech breathing in Parkinson disease.

Abstract

Speech breathing was investigated in 14 men with Parkinson disease (PD) and 14 healthy control (HC) subjects. Kinematic, spirometric, acoustic, and pressure data were used to assess speech breathing control during resting tidal breathing, reading aloud, and monologue production. In addition, information regarding the subjects' speech was obtained through perceptual analyses. To address the issue of fluctuations in motor signs data were collected at two times during the drug cycle for subjects with Parkinson disease. During resting tidal breathing, PD subjects, on average, had a faster breathing rate, greater minute ventilation, and lower relative contribution of the rib cage to lung volume excursion than did the HC subjects. During speech breathing, rib cage volume was smaller and abdominal volume was larger at initiation of the breath groups for the PD subjects than the HC subjects. PD subjects produced fewer words and spent less time producing speech per breath group, and tended to have a faster interpause speech rate than did the HC subjects. There was no difference between groups for the duration of inspirations between speech breath groups. Oral pressure was lower for the subjects with Parkinson disease, but tracheal pressure did not differ between the two subject groups. Few differences were found between the two times in the drug cycle for resting breathing and speech breathing. One remarkable finding was the presence of rib cage paradoxing in two subjects when data were collected from the mid-portion of the drug cycle.